


Hoʻoponopono

by Fablegate



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Other, Platonic Female/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 17:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8677168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fablegate/pseuds/Fablegate
Summary: They have a fight. Reconciliation and forgiveness follows.





	

Step1: I’m Sorry

She was mad.

Moana wasn’t even going to deny herself that truth as she stormed into her families hut. She was mad enough she knew she couldn’t be seen by her people right now. 

Normally, if she were annoyed by something or put off she could delve into her duties as village chief’s daughter, which she enjoyed well enough, that by the end of the day whatever had been grieving her was well forgotten.

But now it was night  and her people were gathered in the center of the village around a fire sharing in dance and song. There were no duties for her distract herself with. None that she thought would help, anyway.

A while ago she had been with them, dancing and singing, once again telling the story of her journey to save the world with the great demi god Maui.

Maui.

That’s where this all started.

The reason she was pacing back and forth inside her hut, trying very hard to **not** kick that basket of fresh fruits sitting rather crookedly against that wooden pillar.

Oh was she trying.

But this was his fault that she was here in the first place!

She had been having a great time. Taking a break between her duties (along with the newly added duty of teaching her people to sail the ocean once more).  Finally being able to take a break and simply have fun with those she loved. Then he had to go and ruin it!

And honestly she couldn’t even remember what the fight was about! Though, she was glad they both took it away from the villagers. They fought by the ocean side where the boats(including Moana’s) were kept. It ended with Maui taking her boat and sailing past the reef, and Moana storming back into the village to where she was now in her hut.

Moana finally stopped pacing and took a breath.

“It’s okay.” She told herself. Her voice still horse from yelling. “Just breathe.”

So she took a long, meant to be calming, breath and let it out all out just as long. She let her shoulders loosen as the air gently left her.

 Moana looked down at the basket of fruit. It was still where it was, sitting not well balanced against the same pillar.

She kicked it.

And of course, like she knew it would, it went rolling. Its content spilling over the floor before it came to a stop by the entrance. Moana groaned, kneeling down to pick up her mess.

“What am I, twelve again?!” Moana muttered to herself as she gathers up all the fruit she can hold in her arms before reaching for the basket.

The basket which was laying beside a foot that hadn’t been there before.

Her father’s foot, to be exact.

Moana looked up and met his gaze, half expecting to be met with a stare that promised a lecture. But to her surprise, the stare she was met with seemed rather…blank? No, not blank. Pondering. Which was not something she got to see very often. Her father, the steadfast and sure chief of Motunui, was not known to ponder.

So, instead of gawking up at her father, Moana quickly retrieved the basket, standing straight and returning the fallen fruit back to said basket. She cleared her throat as she did, praying that her father had not seen all of that.   

But he was the chief, and her father.

So of course he had.

She knew he did the moment she turned to put the basket back and felt his hand rest on her shoulder. Moana said nothing, nor did she turn back around to face him; embarrassed by her own childish behavior.

Tui, seeming to understand, took his hand away and instead walked around her. He took the basket of fruit from her and weighed it in his hand. When he looked at his daughter, she met his gaze this time. He saw a familiar flame there that would not admit weakness.

He couldn’t help but smile.

“Mother was right.” Tui said, his smile widening just a bit at the confused look on his daughters face. “Stubbornness and pride.” He clarified pointing at her. “It’s the same as mine when I was your age.” At that Moana felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment. “It was also those same traits that led me to fight with my own friend.”

He watched her eyes widened a bit at that, but taking note that she did not ask who he was talking about.

She knew then.

Knowing that, he felt it right to continue.

“Oh yes, it wasn’t often, but when we butted heads,” Tui chuckled as the memories came flooding back.  He took a melon from the basket and tossed it to Moana. “not a single person could get between us. The worst we fought was only once.” He held up one finger to further the point before letting his hand fall to his side. “We did not talk for days.”

Moana frowned, looking from the fruit in her hands. “What did you do?” She asked.

At that her father frowned and his brow furrowed. “Nothing. The next we saw each other, we did not speak of our fight. Nor did we fight since.”

She looked up at him. “Was that when…?”

He did not need to raise a hand to stop her for she knew she did not need to finish. A part of him was grateful for that.

“A small part of me still thinks that neither of us willing to talk is what weighed him down.” Possibly for the first time Moana saw a weight upon her father’s shoulders she had never seen before. Or at least not one that seemed to once, for a moment, weigh him down.

But that moment was gone as Tui straightened himself and looked sternly at his daughter.

“As chief, you must learn to carry not only the weight of your people but also your own.” He said with a strong voice before allowing it, and himself, to soften. “But, it is not wrong to carry that weight with others.” He reached out his hand and placed it once more on her shoulder. “Neither is it wrong for the both of you to alleviate each other’s weight.”

Moana, not for the first time, met his gaze. And, not for the first time, had no words for the love and admiration she had for him.

 She straightened herself, her expression set and determined before she gave him a firm nod before running back toward the ocean.

 

Step 2: Please Forgive Me

He wasn’t mad.

No, he was much too great to be mad over a silly little squabble with a mortal. (The mortal whose to fault for him being here in the first place!)

And oh, how **great**  he felt sitting on this tiny boat, skipping stones across the ocean.

“Maybe if I just stay away for a few hundred years, she’ll forget.” Maui mused to himself. Only for his tattoos to snap at his skin. Mini-Maui taking a flower and imitating being dead. “Right. Maybe fifty years then.” He skipped another stone, electing to ignore his tattoo rolling it’s eyes.  

Surprisingly the ocean didn’t seem to mind him skipping stones as it let each stone skip a little farther with each throw he made.

He didn’t know why there were even stones on the boat to begin with. But he soon discovered it probably had something to do with the chicken. For the next stone he grabbed was halfway through Heihei’s beak.

Now if anyone asked, he did not scream. Do not believe anything Mini- Maui says. The great demigod of the wind and sea, hero to all, did not scream.

Certainly not while trying to stop a  dumb chicken from choking on it’s own stupidity.

He made sure to gather all the stones to one side of the canoe and the chicken on the other. And by the other he meant into the storage compartment where Heihei was effectively trapped.

“Now I get how humans use bird-brain as an insult.” Maui muttered to himself as he slumped back down, his feet dangling over the water. A light chuckle suddenly rang in his ear as a stone, one he did not throw, skipped over the water leaving ripples of light upon the ocean surface.

Instinctively, Maui reached for his fish hook, only to curse himself as he remembered he left it behind, stabbed into the beach sand where he and Moana had been fighting.

“If you truly wished to leave,” The strange old woman sitting at the edge of his boat began, holding a stone in her hand. “then I think you would not have left your hook on that beach.”

Okay, how she knew that was beyond him. And though while she looked strangely familiar, Maui couldn’t say he cared to deal with ocean spirits at the moment. Or at any moment, really.

“Yeah, well does this look like a ferry to you?” Maui’s response made it clear about his sour mood. “Get off my boat.”

The old woman looked at him. “Your boat?” She smiled, but her gaze was sharp; like she was looking right through him. It reminded him too much of someone and he did not like it one bit. “As I recall, this boat belongs to my granddaughter.”

Granddaughter?

Maui met her patient gaze with his confused one. She seemed fine with waiting until it clicked.

“Oh.” Was all Maui said.

Gramma Tala chuckled, the wrinkles along her face seemed to grace her features as she smiled. “Oh indeed.”

While, yes, Maui could definitely see the resemblance, he was still doubtful.

“You look very….lively.” Maui could feel his tattoo face palming.

That did nothing to deter her smile. “Death has a way of doing that. Plus,” She paused, turning so she could stand, showing the manta ray depicted on her back. “I chose the right tattoo.”

Maui understood then. He watched as the elderly woman stood and walked across the small boat to where Heihei was still clucking. As soon he saw her take the chicken out of his prison, Maui was quick to dump the rest of the stones into the ocean. He had to be even quicker to catch the daft bird from chasing the stones into the water.

Why he bothered trying to keep this bird alive, he didn’t know.

Gramma Tala watched this with no lack of amusement. “So, demigod, why did you leave you hook?”

Maui did not meet her gaze and was trying very hard not to look at the island of Motunui that was still within sight. Instead he looked out toward the horizon.

 Maybe if he said nothing, she’d go away.

“…..”

“I’m still here.” She said flatly.

Maui rolled his eyes, trying not to squeeze Heihei who was held firmly in his hand. He still remained quite.

Tala looked at him. At the tattoos along his back. Mini-Maui was sitting there, looking unsure. Tala sighed, ready to take whatever was in the storage compartment and throw it at his head. But she stopped when he finally decided on an answer.

“I don’t know.” 

Maui didn’t look as she sat down beside him. She let her feet dangle as well.

“Well, you know what I think?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I think you left that hook, because you trusted that it would still be there when you returned.”

He shifted a little, still not used to having people close to him. “What, so I would have a reason to go back?”

He finally decided to look at Gramma Tala only to see her shake her head.

“No.” She said. “I think that is what you would tell yourself. But we both know you did not come back last time because of that hook.”

She met his gaze, in a knowing way that actually made Maui smile this time.

“You were at Te Fiti.” Maui said.

“I am wherever my granddaughter goes.” She replied, looking toward Motunui. “Except now, of course. My son has finally learned to see through that thick head of his.” Maui nodded, not really getting it, but letting Tala continue. “You, a demigod, have always craved the love and adoration of us mortals. You who have found a way to forgive us, time and time again." He tried  no to think of the tattoo along his back when she said this. "Even after a thousand years, you still find your way back into our lives.”

Now that was when Maui needed do interrupt. “To be fair, it was Moana who found me.”  

Tala looked back at him, her features seemed to grow softer. “Which also leaves me to think…” She turned fully to face him. “You, who craves love did not know what it **truly** felt like to be loved and to **give** that same love in return.”

Maui finally looked back at the island in thought. He looked back at Tala who simply smiled and held out her hand. Uncertainly, he let himself take it. She turned his hand over and into his open palm, she placed a small stone.

When Maui looked up, Gramma Tala was gone.

He looked back at the stone in his hand before gently placing it on the deck.

Only to quickly snatch it away before Heihei could eat it.

 

Step 3: Thank You

Getting back to shore was easy as it always was. Maui wasn’t sure if he was glad about that fact but didn’t put too much thought into it as he tied down the boat so the ocean couldn’t pull it away. He kept the boat still halfway in the water. In case he needed to make a quick getaway.

And, no, he didn’t need to look to know his hook was still where he left it. Whatever dead-granny had told him, he wasn’t going to let bother him one bit.

Or at least that was the plan until something round and solid hit him square in the head.

“Ow!” He’ll admit that did hurt, though, only because it surprised him. He looked down at the melon, now floating innocently in the water. “Oh great. Now fruit seems to hate me-AH!“ He was cut short as something small with long curly hair came barreling into him.

Okay, so he did scream. But only to give credit to the kid, who probably had to run all the way down hill from her village to gain the momentum needed to actually knock him off balance. Of course, he would have recovered easily were it not for the ocean wrapped around his legs aiding in the act of **plowing him over**.

He landed not so graciously on his behind, the shallow water coming up to only his waist, tickling his sides in amusement with the melon that would have left a welt on his head were he not a demigod. Maui wished he could share in it’s fun as he turned his attention to the offending mortal on top of him.

She had her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his middle while she tucked her head within the crook of his neck. Maui was quickly reminded of the vice grip this kid had as he tried to get back up and let the kid simply fall off.

To no avail on either. The ocean kept him sitting while Moana refused to relinquish her hold on him.

After a few more moment of struggling, finally Maui just gave up and accepted his fate.

“So this is how I’m going to die.” Maui said, his arms moving on their own accord around Moana. “Trapped by the ocean while being strangled by the world’s most deadliest human.”  

He felt her breath on his shoulder as she huffed in amusement. “And the world’s most arrogant demigod seems to be taking his sweet time dying. And after having the nerve to take our boat without me.” 

“Hey, I did bring it back!” He said in his defense, but even he couldn’t keep himself from chuckling. “And we both know dying never really suited me. I’m more of the “come out on top in glorious victory!” kind of guy.” 

Moana turned her head more toward him. His hair tickled her nose as she looked at him.

“And now?” She asked.

He tilted his head to meet her gaze. Only for a moment though before he looked away where his gaze then landed on his fish hook.

“Now, not so much.” He said, looking back at her and seeing the look she gave him. It was a soft look that, after all the years he lived, he still couldn’t quite name.

But instead of leaving him to try and name it, Moana buried her face back into his shoulder and tightened her hold on him ever so slightly.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was muffled but he heard it.

Maui hugged her back, though careful not to squeeze too hard.

“Yeah,” He said, leaning his head against hers. “Me too.” 

His warmth was a much welcome from the cool ocean breeze.  All the while her own company brought a different kind of warmth to him, she realized.

Moana finally pulled back and gave him a friendly shove. “Thanks for coming back.”

Maui smiled at that, totally not thinking about what Gramma Tala had been telling him. He let her slip from his arms and into the shallow water, taking her hand in his own.

“You’re…” With ease he tossed her over his shoulder and into the ocean behind him. “Welcome!” Finding the ocean no longer holding him down, Maui stood up, taking the melon with him as he moved to sit on the dry deck of the boat. By the time she came spluttering back up toward him, he had already cracked open the melon. He took a bite out of one half while holding the other half out for her to take.

She had half the mind to scold him. But she had already done that earlier so she settled with the other half of her mind by taking the fruit and sitting beside her friend. They sat in silence, even after the melon was finished, simply enjoying the other’s company.

“Hey.” Maui was the first the break the silence. Moana stopped her star gazing to look at him. His smile was soft and genuine. “Thanks for coming back.”

Moana scooted over and rested her head on his shoulder, enjoying his warmth and smiling.

“You’re welcome.”  she said.

They stayed like that for much longer than Moana thought they would. She didn’t mind though. And she knew Maui didn’t mind either. The other’s company became a constant for both of them over the months: during and after the journey to Te Fiti.

Moana knew they had to go back to the village, though. She did not want to cause her people by not being there. Maui understood and pulled the boat the rest of the way out of the water.

 Moana was still wet but Maui was **gracious** enough to provide some wind to dry her off. It left her hair a bit frizzier than normal but that just gave Maui an excuse to show off even more as he insisted on doing it himself. Moana didn’t complain as the demigod fussed with her hair until it was tied in a presentable bun and a lei placed upon her head.

She didn’t know where he got the lei from, but she chalked it up to that part of him that was still a mystery and another part of his apology to her. He gave her a quick look over before nodding at his good work. Mini-Maui gave two thumbs up. Moana smiled, quick to return the favor by picking a nearby flower by the trail they were on and placing it behind his right ear.

Moana gave him the cheekiest grin she could muster and then running off before Maui could take a swing at her.

The villagers welcomed them both back in happy greeting, all of them encouraging both to join in the last dance of the night before the fire died.

Maui, in all his ego and history of fame, was still surprised at how welcoming Moana’s people were. Suppose a thousand years in solitude will do that to a guy. Moana was the only one to really see and understand this surprise before being pulled into the dance. He watched from the sidelines as she danced and sung with her people, finding himself smiling at the sight and soon letting his own voice join the crowd in the song.

And of course, because he was Maui, demigod of the wind and sea, hero to all, he had to show off his moves. He got the reaction he had hoped for. Awe, wonderment, and excitement he new only he could bring to a human crowd.

To his surprise(and delight) Moana, followed by others, joined him. When he met her gaze, she had no look of awe like the others. No, the look she gave him was soft and honest. She was glad he was there. Not as a demigod. But as himself. He returned that look in kind as they danced.

They ended the dance together just as the fire died in a plume of smoke.

Step 4: I Love You

The next morning Maui left Motunui.

Moana caught him just as he had gone to the shore to retrieve his hook. He had not touched it since the night before and that fact made a part of her proud of him for it.

“You can take the boat.” Moana offered. She wasn’t surprised nor was she mad that he was leaving. Like Moana, Maui had a call of his own that pulled him back to the ocean.  

Maui turned to her with his fish hook resting on his shoulder. He eyed the boat on the shore as it was a tempting offer. “I think I learned my lesson of what happens when I take our boat without both of us on it.” Moana smiled at that. “Besides, lot of monsters out there that’ll need to be taken care of if your people are ever to sail again and I don’t I want to come back to someone pulling my ear over a ripped sail.” He shifted his hook to the other shoulder. “I’d ask you to come with me, but-” He looked up the shoreline toward the village. Moana followed his gaze. “I know how much you love them.”

And, truly, she did love them and she would do anything to keep them safe, and she has. But, it would still be some time before they were all ready to set sail. 

Suddenly she felt a hand on her head ruffle her hair. She turned back to Maui, who had a look of fondness to match her own.

Smiling, she stepped forward, putting a hand on his head like he did and pressed her nose and forehead to his own. He met her halfway, leaning down so she wouldn’t have to stand tip-toed. The ocean’s gentle tide curled around both their ankles

There were very few who could say they shared in a hongi with a demigod. Though, that demigod would tell you that those he had shared his ha with had long since passed.

“You have to be there.” Moana said, not moving away just yet. “When we set sail.”

She felt his brow furrow against hers. Her eyes were closed but she knew he was smiling.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, curly.”

They shared in one last hug before Maui stood back to change shape. Moana watched as he became a great hawk and took off into the morning sky.

She stayed on the beach until he disappeared over the horizon.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw Moana and loved it. I loved seeing the culture shown and the characters as well. I wrote this over the course of a couple days, this is the first fanfiction I've written that I put a good bit of research into. That said, I am still unfamiliar with most Polynesian cultures, so I hope the liberties I took with the concept of Ho'oponopono is not offending in any way. 
> 
> That said, in terms of Maui and Moana, I wrote this as to be plantonic (not that I find anything wrong with shipping them, I just don't like the idea of them like that when Moana is still young.) 
> 
> (this is also pretty beta, I don't know if I'll touch up on it later or not, but, any notes would be greatly appreciated)


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